Hoot & Holla'

Have you seen the Monday Mood Board challenge over at the WPlus9 blog?  It's so fun, bright, and cheerful!  I couldn't resist making up a fun card using the inspiration over there.  I was so surprised how quickly this card came together, which rarely happens for me!

I was able to use up some of the washi tape that I've managed to accumulate a drawer full of.  That felt like an accomplishment in itself.  :)

Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

Packed with Love

I decided to make a bit of an unconventional Mother's Day card this week, inspired by the gorgeousness of this week's Monday Mood Board challenge over at WPlus9.  Reminds me of a modern country style.  I love the color palette and the wooden hearts are my favorite.  Then, I thought I'd be so smart and spice up my wooden hearts with a few impression plates for added character.  It went just fine in my test run, fine on my next two impressions, then with my Simple Stripes IP ... oops!  I love the look, but be warned if you try this at home, folks!

At least I had the common sense to use a corner and not mess up my IP smack dab in the center!  :)

Given that I used an IP with something other than paper, I am also entering this card into the Papertrey Ink Make-It-Monday challenge #115: Beyond Paper with Impression Plates.

Happy Mother's Day!  Hope your day was "packed with love"!

Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

Ready for Spring?

I am so ready to see some spring flowers!  In the meantime, I always enjoy stamping and creating some pretty floral cards.  When I discovered WPlus9, the first set I knew I had to have was Mother's Day Bouquet.  It has such pretty flowers.  Later, I added Folk Art Florals to my collection, and, well, let's just say that my collection has grown considerably since then.  :)

This week's Monday Mood Board challenge over at WPlus9 was great motivation to bring some spring into my craft room.  Isn't that color palette just gorgeous??

On my first card, I created a plaid background and a pretty floral pattern in melon and yellows.  I stitched around the edge of the floral panel and de-bossed it with a quatrefoil plate.  

I added some beautiful doily details with the Lacey Layers stamp and die set, and topped it all off with a button card and heat-embossed, coaster board buttons.  A little extra texture with some loopy bakers twine, and I called it complete.

I wanted to do a second card in a CAS style to let those pretty flowers take center stage.

I added a punched vellum butterfly layered under a fussy-cut stamped butterfly from the Mother's Day Bouquet set.

Two very different designs, but I love them both very much.

Happy Spring!  :)

Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

PTI March Blog Hop - Sequins

This month's PTI Blog Hop challenge is to create a project incorporating sequins.
This month's challenge is another I have not done before ... challenge accepted!  :)
If you would like to check things out for yourself, you can find out all about it here.

I had to order some sequins for this month's challenge.  I really wanted to get some yellow ones, but they sold out before I put my order in.  Darn!  Well, I will work with what I have.  :)

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this card by Chari Moss.  I knew right away that I wanted to try her sequin technique.  Here is my first take:

I used 1/8" score-tape in lines to adhere the sequins and it went surprisingly quick.  I kept the card design simple, letting the sequins take center stage.

All supplies (minus the sequins) are from PTI.

My second take on this sequin technique uses a word die.  I wanted to make each letter it's own color, and tried my best at a rainbow using the colors that I had on hand.

I stamped a secondary sentiment and then decided to sew a border around the panel that ended in what I'd hoped would look like an arrow.  :)

I thought this would make a fabulous birthday card.

Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

Hello Foxy

One last post for the Pattern Play online card class!  This one is on paper piecing stamped images with patterned paper taught in Class 2.

I have always wanted to try this technique and admire it dearly when I see it done, especially when it's done by Betsy Veldman or Melissa Phillips.  :)  

I didn't stray too far and used this card by Betsy for my inspiration.

I spent about 8 hours saturday working on this piece.  Yikes!  Yeah, seriously.  I intended to make a card, but it took on a life of it's own and kept growing and growing.  When all was said and done, I thought it was just too much investment to put into a card, so I decided it would be better suited as a baby room decoration.  All it needs is a frame.

I broke out my brand spankin' new 6x6 Maggie Holmes paper pack and was able to incorporate 8 different patterned papers, or 9 if you include the subtle paper print I used for the clouds.  I had to laugh at myself as I found it a little bit difficult to rip that first sheet of paper out of the pad!

I heat embossed the sentiment at the bottom.  It's very subtle, but still easily noticeable.  I could have inked around the sentiment to make it stand out more, but decided I'd rather have it blend in with the design.

Well, that's it for me!  I'm hoping to continue using up my patterned paper even after the class is over!

Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

Happy 50th!

Another post for the online Pattern Play card class.  I am so happy to finally be using up some of my patterned paper!

A good friend of mine's husband will be turning 50 next month and she asked for friends to send cards so that he'll have 50 of them to open on his birthday.  Of course, I couldn't buy one ... handmade it is!

During the last PTI release, Jess Witty made this card and I knew in an instant that I would CASE that card for this occasion!

I used my silhouette to cut out the numbers, both from my card base and from my bold patterned paper.  Since it's his 50th birthday, I chose a mostly black patterned paper.

I kept my card a bit simplier than Jess's by skipping the clear cardstock layer and inking the paper edges instead of stitching.  I really like the results regardless of the changes.  Hopefully my friend and her husband will too.  :)

Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

The Teacher Gifts Continue!

I am so thrilled and excited to be taking my first online card class!  Especially this one ... Pattern Play!  I have so much patterned paper that I've collected from my scrapbook days, and then even more during my card-making days ... it's crazy!  I am so excited to be taking a class that can help me use up some of that pretty paper.

I originally bought this patterned paper to make some notecards for my DD's teacher who is Italian, into cooking, and has a cooking-themed classroom.  I am so thankful for the Pattern Play class because I was able to make 5 cards to gift to our wonderful teacher with this paper, when otherwise it probably would have continued to sit until the year was over and time ran out!  My 10-yr old DD even insisted on making a card using the Class 5 paper-weaving lesson.

The first class lesson I was trying to apply was to utilize a few different patterns of paper together using the "Bold, Basic, Blah" tip from Amber.  Here is the first card made (and my least favorite as well - haha!):

I used the edge inking technique on some of the layers, and popped up the sentiment with dimensionals.

The first card took me three days to finally complete.  Yikes!  I found my biggest roadblock was coming up with sketches that would play well with multiple paper patterns.  I did some online searches and looked through the inspiration folder on my computer.  I picked out a few designs I liked and then tried to apply them with my supplies.  It worked!  I had a creative spurt and made the bulk of the next 3 cards in one day, finishing with sewing and button details the following day.

My card above was inspired by the design of this card by Ashley Cannon Newell. 

My card above was inspired by the design of this card by Debbie Olson.

The next card uses a bit of vellum over my pattern paper to help make the sentiment stand out, rather than get lost in the pattern - a technique taught in Class 3.

My card above was inspired by the design of this card by Leigh Penner.

This next card is the one that DD insisted on making.  She really wanted to try out the paper weaving technique shown in the Class 5 video, so I guided her through the process, although, I'd say she made about 80% of the card, including some of the sewing!
She stamped the tone-on-tone background pattern, made the paper-woven block, sewed on the two long sides of the block, and picked out the button colors.  I just guided her along, sewed the two short sides (so that I could turn the corners for her), and stamped the sentiment.  I love how it turned out!  Hopefully her teacher will too.  :)

The card above was also inspired by Leigh Penner's card here.  I love Leigh's cards.  She has a real gift for incorporating patterned papers onto her cards!

I'll be posting more class projects soon.  Thanks ever so much for stopping by!